Lin Yi felt his heart race. "Child, you must be careful! Don't get into another fight with your mother-in-law! Your father was truly frightened this time."
Lin Qin lowered her head, feeling a prick of guilt. Such situations would only become more frequent, not less. She hoped her father’s heart was strong enough; otherwise, he would surely be angered into a collapse.
Seeing her reaction, Lin Yi knew his words had fallen on deaf ears. He sighed helplessly and said, "Early this morning, when I opened the door, I found another cleaned blackfish in the kitchen, just like yesterday. I don't know which kind soul left it, but I drank a bowl of the soup first—it’s perfectly fine. You two should eat; blackfish is good for healing wounds. You should eat more of it."
Yesterday morning, he had woken up to find a cleaned blackfish, weighing about a pound, on the kitchen counter. He had thought it was a gift from a neighbor, but after asking around, no one admitted to it.
In this weather, fish that had been killed but not cooked wouldn't stay fresh for a day, so he had simply gone ahead and stewed it. He hadn't expected another one to appear this morning.
Their village had a fish pond, but it was filled only with small, wild African tilapia; no one caught them, and they were nearly impossible to catch anyway. Blackfish like these could only be found in Nanxi Creek.
As he thought of Nanxi Creek, the image of Chen Wenjun flashed through Lin Yi’s mind. He instinctively glanced at Lin Qin, then shook his head. It couldn't be him. The man didn't know his daughter at all, had never visited their home, and wouldn't know where they lived.
If it wasn't Chen Wenjun, then who could it be? Lin Yi was completely baffled.
Lin Qin, however, had an inkling. She carefully picked the bones out of the fish for Liu Yaya and fed her a bowl of the soup.
"Yaya, does the fish soup taste good?" she asked with a smile.
Liu Yaya nodded obediently. "It’s delicious! It’s better here at Grandpa’s. We have fish to eat every day. At Grandma’s, I only get sweet potato porridge with pickled vegetables, and if I eat too much, she calls me a waste of money."
Though only six, the child understood everything.
Lin Yi’s face darkened instantly. He was so angry he nearly dropped his chopsticks. "Ma Cuihua is going too far! Yaya is her own granddaughter! How can she treat a child like that?"
Lin Qin let out a cold laugh. "Dad, she treated us mother and daughter that way yesterday; did you really expect her to feed Yaya meat?"
Lin Yi choked on his words and sighed repeatedly. Lin Qin calmly finished her soup and helped clear the table.
In the days that followed, Lin Yi found a blackfish on the kitchen counter every morning. At first, he tried to get to the bottom of it, but after finding nothing, he gradually grew accustomed to it and began cooking the fish in various ways. Sometimes he made fish soup with tofu, sometimes soy-sauce braised fish with sweet potato porridge, and on more luxurious days, he fried it in lard—all just to make sure his daughter and granddaughter ate well.
Under Lin Yi’s care, Lin Qin’s wounds healed remarkably fast. They scabbed over in three or four days and began to fall off within a week.
Just as she was looking for reasons to stay longer at her parents' house, the Liu Family sent someone to pass a message: Liu Yongming was returning soon, and she needed to bring Liu Yaya back.
When Lin Yi heard this, he was no longer willing to let Lin Qin stay. He told her to pack her things and head back without delay.
"Listen to me, child. Yongming is a college student—he’s an educated man. He certainly won't take his mother's side. Go back, explain everything clearly, and let him stand up for you. If possible, take the child and go with Yongming so you can avoid being bullied by that wicked woman, Ma Cuihua."
Lin Yi rambled on, his words filled with worry. Lin Qin felt a surge of heartache with every word. She fought back tears, turned to the shed to pack her bags, and handed the fifty yuan to her father. "Dad, it isn’t safe to keep this money on me. You hold onto it for me, and if I need it later, I'll come get it."
Lin Yi understood her concerns and agreed without a second thought. Happily, he saw her and Liu Yaya out of the village.
It took the mother and daughter an hour to return to the Liu Family home. As soon as they entered, they were met with the sullen glare of Xu Manzhi. Lin Qin didn't give her a single glance, walking straight back to her room with her daughter.
She had barely sat down when the shrill scolding of Ma Cuihua erupted. "Our Liu Family must owe her a debt! She can't even give birth to a son, and yet she acts like an ancestor who needs to be served. Isn't she afraid of losing her blessings?"
Lin Qin covered Liu Yaya’s ears and offered a comforting smile. "Don't listen to that nonsense; it’s just polluting your ears. Are you tired? Do you want to take a nap?"
Liu Yaya shook her head, clutching the corner of Lin Qin’s jacket tightly. Lin Qin smiled knowingly and lay down with her.
Ma Cuihua spent the better part of the day cursing in the courtyard until her throat was dry, but there wasn't a peep from Lin Qin’s room. It was as if she were performing for an empty stage. Furious, Ma Cuihua ordered Liu Li to take over.
Liu Li, who still held a grudge because Lin Qin had scratched her face, rushed to the door and pounded on it frantically. "Second Sister-in-law! Mom told you to come out and work! Are you deaf? Open the door!"
Her shrill shouting sounded like a ghost's wail, loud enough to make one's heart jump. Irritated, Lin Qin got up, grabbed a bowl of cold water that had been sitting out for days, and threw it open to splash it directly onto Liu Li.
Liu Li was drenched from head to toe. After a moment of shock, she began to jump up and down with rage, pointing at Lin Qin and screaming, "You slut! How dare you splash me! I'm going to kill you!"
As she lunged forward, Lin Qin stepped aside and tripped her. Liu Li landed face-first on the floor tiles, hitting her chin. She let out a piercing howl of pain. "Mom! Sister-in-law! The slut Lin Qin is bullying me! Ahhh!"
Screaming, she scrambled up and ran outside, soaked and filthy, with snot and tears streaming down her face. Seeing her youngest daughter in such a state, Ma Cuihua flew into a rage. "Lin Qin! I will beat you to death, you wretch!"
Xu Manzhi came over to help. Seeing she had backup, a look of venomous malice crossed Liu Li’s eyes. She ran back to the kitchen, grabbed a ladle of boiling water, and charged toward Lin Qin. "You splashed me, so today I’m going to make you taste what it’s like!"
Ma Cuihua and Xu Manzhi grabbed Lin Qin, one on each side, pinning her in place. Liu Li flung the boiling water directly at her. At the critical moment, Liu Yaya lunged forward and knocked into Xu Manzhi.
"Ah!" A heart-rending scream echoed through the entire alleyway, mingled with Liu Yaya’s shrill crying and Ma Cuihua’s vicious curses.
Lin Qin rushed out of the courtyard, clutching the sobbing and gasping Liu Yaya, and hammered on the neighbor’s door.
"Lin Qin? What happened to Yaya?" Granny Liu asked, her voice filled with alarm.
Lin Qin sank to her knees. "Granny, the madwoman Liu Li threw a ladle of boiling water at me. Yaya blocked it for me, and her back was scalded. I have to take her to the hospital, but I don't have any money on me. Could you please lend me a few yuan? I will pay you back as soon as I can."
"Yes, yes, of course! Don't worry, just wait here while I go get it," Granny Liu said, rushing back into her house in a panic.
Lin Qin hurried to the next house to borrow more. It took visiting three or four families before she finally managed to scrape together a dozen yuan.